Israeli activist lawyer Nitzana Darshan-Leitner: The US should make Iran pay off its debts to American relatives of terror victims before easing sanctions.

Asserting that no individual has done more than former President Jimmy Carter to defame Israel and to challenge its right to exist, a group of readers filed a class action suit against Carter and the Simon & Schuster publishing company, back in February, 2011, alleging that Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” contains numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised.

The suit, Unterberg et al. v. Jimmy Carter et.al (11 cv 0720), filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in February, 2011, sought compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants.

The five plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are seeking at least $5 million in compensation. The hard cover edition cost $27.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, commenting on the decision of Yeshiva University ‘s Cardozo School of Law to give the “International Advocate for Peace” award to President Jimmy Carter, told The Jewish Press:

“It is a great shame that Cardozo Law School will be giving an award to the former U.S. president. President Carter is a person who has exploited his standing to spread lies about the State of Israel, use every possible opportunity to defame the Middle East ‘s sole democracy, and challenge the Jewish state’s right to exist. His book promoted anti-Israel propaganda and lies, and he has even met with representatives of Hamas, a terrorist group responsible for murdering Israelis and Americans.”

In December, 2012, former president Carter apologized to the Jewish community, asking their forgiveness for any negative stigma he may have caused Israel over the years.

“As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so,” he said.

The “Al Chet” supplication is recited during the Yom Kippur prayers.

But Nitsana Darshan-Leitner does not seem impressed by the letter, which coincided with Jimmy’s son, Jason Carter, was considering a run to fill a seat in heavily-Jewish suburban DeKalb County, GA.

“He has visited ten times in Gaza and Saudi Arabia since that apology, and he never expressed regrets over his views,” she noted.

The suit, meanwhile, was deleted from the Federal Court’s agenda on a technicality, and will be filed again in NY State court, according to Darshan-Leitner.

The plaintiffs in that suit and the one to be filed, who described themselves as members of the reading public who purchased Carter’s book expecting that they were buying an accurate and factual record of historic events concerning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, contended that Carter and his publisher intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalize on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public.

The complaint alleged that the defendants’ misrepresentations, all highly critical of Israel, violated New York consumer protection laws, specifically New York General Business Law § 349, which makes it unlawful to engage in deceptive acts in the course of conducting business. While acknowledging Carter’s right to publish his personal views, the plaintiffs assert that the defendants violated the law and, thus, harmed those who purchased the book.

The suit was the first time a former President and a publishing house have been sued for violating consumer protection laws by knowingly publishing inaccurate information while promoting a book as factual.

The complaint noted that after the book’s publication, some of Carter’s closest aides, including distinguished public officials and scholars personally involved in the events described, condemned the book as untruthful. Despite being presented with irrefutable proof that many of representations in the book are false, the defendants refused to make any corrections

Attorney David Schoen, representing the plaintiffs, stated: “It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Center which bears his name.”

About the Author:Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and
two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.

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22 Responses to “Jews Still Planning to Sue Jimmy Carter over Anti-Israel Book”

Expect condemnation of this suit by the ADL, Yeshiva University, and the so-called "100 Jewish Leaders," to be followed by intervention by the US Attorney General demanding the suit be thrown out. After all they all do agree with Carter's push to demonize not Israel but Jews!

Jimmy Carter is the darling of the Liberal agenda which adores anything with the big 'L' without intellectual scrutiny. Of course the Conservative agenda is basically guilty of the same affair with anything having the capital 'C' in place. Both agendas are blind to the extent that they are stuck in opposite ruts of the same wagon track. Once in a rare while Jimmy gets something right (no pun intended) by sheer luck or P.R., but he is really just a more subdued and subtle version of his brother Billy. You remember Billy who accepted a 6 figure "loan" from Muammar Gaddafi and had to register as a foreign agent as a result. Who was it, I wonder, arranged that little loan? Billy is also remembered for single-handedly putting Falls Brewing, who had survived Prohibition, out of business in one year. Jimmy can credit his election to his southern charm, just as Bill Clinton won over the electorate with his gravelly voiced rhetoric, but unlike Clinton, he lasted one short term.

What was he doing during WWII? In his support of the Arab squatters who follow the Mufti, Hitler's Ally, shouldn't he be investigated as a traitor as he allies himself with Al Gore, where is the party going?

Andre De Angelis Carter NEVER recalled the book. In fact he is outspokenly PROUD of his Jew hatred with his repeated denunciations of Jews on the world stage. How about some proof the book was "recalled." Or is your comment continued obfuscation to protect the 3rd most Antisemitic president in US history?

By the way..checked your FB page: a veritable museum of Jew hatred and neo-nazi attacks. It is who you are!!!

Andre De Angelis Carter NEVER recalled the book. In fact he is outspokenly PROUD of his Jew hatred with his repeated denunciations of Jews on the world stage. How about some proof the book was "recalled." Or is your comment continued obfuscation to protect the 3rd most Antisemitic president in US history?

By the way..checked your FB page: a veritable museum of Jew hatred and neo-nazi attacks. It is who you are!!!

Andre De Angelis Found this on your FB page: "Lieberman demonstrates his utter insanity. There is no nuclear reactor at Parchin and Israel's own intelligence community agrees with all 16 US intelligence agencies, that not only is Iran NOT producing nukes, it is not even trying.

"The plaintifs…contended that Carter and his publisher intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalize on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public." Personally, I think anyone who reads a book automatically KNOWS that the information is subjective. Even a medical journal, to some degree, will have errors. Whoever bought Carter's book looking for "real" information is either lying or a real dufus.

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